Unwanted Knowledge
by Man Called True
Summary: The semi-prequel to "How Dementors Are Created". This concerns the people who found the tablets. Again, the rating is for content. Enough talk, now read...


Unwanted Knowledge  
  
By Evil Jason  
  
DISCLAIMER: As usual, I have no legal rights to the Harry Potter license. This story is my own creation, however. This is a semi-prequel to "How Dementors Are Created".  
  
The Ministry of Magic paid Quentin Aerisal well, but not well enough for him to voluntarily visit Azkaban. However, he wouldn't complain - being a member of the newly formed Committee for the Study of Azkaban Artifacts was a responsibility that was dropped on him by surprise, and he was willing to prove that he could take anything. It was all part of his overall goal to take over from Cornelius Fudge after the old fool retired. Still, Quentin would have preferred it if the goal hadn't required being within a mile of the Dementors.  
  
Now the apparent warden was leading him into one of the deeper areas of Azkaban. Quentin had wished he could stay in the upper levels of the prison, but Ministry guidelines had required that the tablets that were drawing so much attention be left undisturbed in the room they were found - in this case, what appeared to have, at some point in the past, appeared as a kitchen. The warden was explaining what he had seen.  
  
"Well, Mr. Aerisal, over the years, guards have disappeared from time to time. We always assume that they just quit without saying anything. After all, only a certain kind of mind can take Azkaban for a long time."  
  
Like a disturbed mind, Quentin thought to himself. His outward reaction was a nod of agreement and, "Of course. And?"  
  
"Well," the warden continued, "most of the time, we only lose guards at the rate of one about every three months. But about a month ago, two guards disappeared within a day of each other. We called a search this time."  
  
Here Quentin was confused. "Wait a minute. You mean that whenever a guard disappeared in the past, you never searched for him?"  
  
"Well, we did search for the others - never found anything. Actually, our searches have become less thorough in recent times, seeing as we all thought that the missing guard had merely quit and taken a boat back to the mainland. But this was the first time that more than one guard had vanished with that small a gap. So we called a full search and swept the entire place."  
  
They were nearing the room where the tablets were found. Quentin brushed a cobweb off his robes and asked, "And that's when you found the tablets?"  
  
The warden shook his head with a small shudder. "No. First we found one of the missing guards. Something had ripped out his heart and broken his spine. Then we found the tablets. We're here."  
  
The warden walked into a small room that still contained rusted kitchen gear. Quentin followed him in and tapped his wand (which he had lit) on a candle near the door. The candle lit instantly. And that was when Quentin Aerisal first saw the tablets.  
  
They were rather unimpressive, really. After all, they were only four large, flat slabs that someone had chiseled out of the wall with a jagged piece of metal (the specific piece of metal was on the floor next to one of the tablets). However, something was written on the tablets in a red stain. These were the so-called artifacts that had brought Quentin Aerisal to Azkaban against his good sense.  
  
The warden walked over to the first tablet and knelt by it. "I read the first one before I contacted the Ministry. It seems that these were written by a inmate named William Harganid."  
  
Quentin walked over and interrupted, "I remember that case. William Harganid killed a store clerk in Diagon Alley by setting him on fire. He was sentenced for thirty years back in 1991."  
  
The warden nodded. "I looked him up. He was in the cell directly to the left of Sirius Black."  
  
Quentin winced. "Don't remind me. The Ministry still hasn't gotten over that embarrassment. Shall we read the tablets?"  
  
The warden nodded. "Help me out." The two men carefully lifted the tablets onto a nearby table and started to read them. Quentin then realized that the words on the tablets were written in blood. He commented, "This guy must've had more blood than a giant."  
  
The warden shook his head. "That's not the case. The guard's corpse we found? It had about twenty cuts in it. Judging by that, most of this was written in other people's blood."  
  
Near the end of the first tablet, Quentin read about William's Animagus status. Shaking his head, he muttered, "This is exactly why the Animagus registry isn't worth the time. I've always suspected that some people never bothered with the gits at the registering office."  
  
The warden, who could turn into an owl but hadn't reported it, merely nodded in agreement.  
  
At one point, reading about a gathering of Dementors, Quentin asked the warden, "Did you know about this?"  
  
The warden shook his head. "We never bother with the bloody Dementors when we can help it. They're bad enough without trying to find out more."  
  
Finally, partway through the third tablet, the two men read about the Dementor's reproduction. Quentin jumped back in shock. "Dear God, nobody's figured out the truth behind Dementor reproduction since we found the bloody things, and here William stumbled upon it!"  
  
The warden jumped back as well. "That explains the missing guards. Those living nightmares kill a guard every time they breed!"  
  
Frantically, they read the rest of the tablets, covering William's escape and retreat into the abandoned kitchen. Quentin was the first to step back from the table. "Good lord. that answers one of the major questions behind Dementors."  
  
The warden joined him. "Yes, and it explains the missing guards."  
  
Quentin shook for a small period of time, and then started running around the room, looking for something. After about five minutes, he walked back to the table. "There's no trace of William. Not even a corpse."  
  
The warden started to tremble. He slid to the floor, muttering something under his breath.  
  
Quentin kneeled down by the warden's head, asking, "What was that?"  
  
The warden mumbled, "You read the tablets, as did I. The Dementors were after William because he knew how they reproduced."  
  
Quentin nodded, and then caught on. With a shudder, he finished: "And now WE know."  
  
Quentin and the warden got to their feet and turned to the door. Three Dementors had slid into the doorway, and more were appearing behind them.  
  
Muttering a quiet prayer, Quentin Aerisal drew his wand and pointed. "EXPECTO PALTRONUM!"  
  
(The following is from a document in the files of the Ministry of Magic.)  
  
"The Azkaban tablets are in the possession of the Committee for the Study of Azkaban Artifacts. They have reported that the writing on the tablets is in blood, but did not fade under a Lie-Eraser charm. So the tablets tell the truth. The wizarding world now knows the truth behind Dementor reproduction. We have released a press statement concerning the writing on the tablets. The fact that the writing was in blood was left out.  
  
"One incident occurred during the retrieval of the tablets. When the Ministry workers entered the room the tablets were stored in, they found one of the inmates gibbering in the corner. The man violently claimed that he was the warden, but close investigation revealed that he was merely a prisoner named Jonas Feckwall, who was serving a sentence for turning sixteen people into toads. Mr. Feckwall claimed that the Dementors had swarmed into the room and performed the Dementor's Kiss on Quentin Aerisal, the Ministry employee we sent to check on the veracity of the tablets, and then had taken the body away. The real warden soon arrived and helped to return Jonas Feckwall to his cell.  
  
"Quentin Aerisal is still missing." 


End file.
